http://albotas.com/post/28528254555/a-short-history-of-video-games-the-compact-disk" was watching an episode of Modern Marvels the other day. It was the “90’s Tech” episode which outlined those ten magical years of George Foreman Grills, digital cameras, and MiniDisks. With just two minutes left in the show, they finally mentioned videogames, specifically the PlayStation. The fine researchers at Modern Marvels claimed that Sony’s machine was the first console to play CDs. After picking my jaw up off the floor and splashing some cold Surge on my face, I turned to my Furby and said, “LOL wut?” Nothing against Sony - the PS1 and 2 are two of my favorite consoles - but the PS1 was not the first, second, or ninth to use CDs as a game format.
The first system to load games from a CD was the PC Engine, also known as the TurboGrafx. In 1988 - that’s a full six years before the PlayStation - NEC released the PC Engine CD-ROM, which attached to the PC Engine itself. The PC Engine used credit card sized cartridges called Hu Cards, so CDs not only added storage space, but also much better audio quality. In 1991, NEC combined the PC Engine and the CD-ROM add-on to create the DUO, known in the West as the TurboDuo. There were many hardware revisions, including the DUO R and the DUO RX. Some highlights of the system are the Ys series, great Neo Geo ports, Gate and Lords of Thunder, and one of the best Street Fighter II ports of the time"